With only hours to travel until the washer falls to Rogers places for match 1 of the Stanley Cup final revenge between the Oilers And the Panthers, a scene involving hockey fans dressed in blue and orange arriving in the capital of Alberta, some making the trip as far as Australia to discover the In the NHL Excitation of the playoffs.
“I am so excited,” exclaimed Steve Patching, detailing his epic brisbane journey to Edmonton and how he drank several cups of coffee in the morning so that he was awake for the opening match of the championship series on Wednesday. “Can you imagine what it will look like if the game 7 is there?”
Like many other pure and hard fans of the ilers around the world, Patching said that it was at the height of the team – led by Wayne Gretzky – in the 1980s which attracted him to a part of a community of supporters that fans have nicknamed “oil”.
“I saw Gretzky once,” said Patching, noting that the link with the team also exists because he has a family in Edmonton. “(The Oilers) had a fairly meager period … (but) now they have the greatest in history with (Connor) McDavid.”
Patching said he had reserved his flight shortly after the Oilers had eliminated Dallas stars from the playoffs by winning the West Conference final in five games.
Richard Fairhead also arrived in the capital of Alberta on Wednesday and is also from Brisbane.
Get daily national news
Get the best news of the day, the titles of political, economic and current affairs, delivered in your reception box once a day.
He said he was on a business trip to New Zealand when the oilers beat the stars and he did what he had to do to be in Edmonton for the Stanley Cup final.
“I changed everything to come, .. (I am a) an unconditional fan,” he said, adding that he had been on six flights in the last 72 hours, seeing him use four different airlines and crossing three different countries. “(I) came last year and I loved every moment.
“I got the woman’s permission so everything is fine.”
Richard Fairhead arrived in Edmonton de Brisbane, Australia, he could therefore be in Alberta to encourage the Oilers for match 1 of the Stanley Cup final.
Global News
Aside from the fans arriving from Down Under, the supporters of the Oilers also come from everywhere, putting pressure on the feeding of Edmonton in the hotel room this week.
“It is essentially impossible to obtain a room (downtown) at the moment,” said Chris Yeung, executive director of the non-profit organization Edmonton Destination Marketing Hotels Ltd.
Yeung added that the demand “also bleeds” from other areas.
“This year, we have a home advantage for the Oilers,” he said. “When you have that, you have the media availability day, you have all the broadcasters flying in advance, … and these are not small groups.
“Some broadcasting groups have 50 or 60 people at the same time.”
Yeung described what hotel operators face as a “huge demand”.
The patching will probably remain with his daughter because he said that he planned to watch the match 1 from the balcony of his apartment which overlooks a place outside the oilers arena that fans call “the foam pit”.
He said that even if he does not have a seat inside Rogers places for the game, the feeling in downtown Edmonton will be electric.
“Last year, I went to an interior surveillance party,” said Patching. “It was one of those they lost who really zero, but the atmosphere was always incredible.”
Fairhead said that after his oilers lost the Stanley Cup championship against the panthers in a heartbreaking way last year with a defeat of match 7, he hopes that there will be a different result this year.
“Different team, a different sensation,” he said, adding that even if he had “frightened” with the way in which the oilers sometimes fought in their series of qualifying series against the Kings of Los Angeles, the players “have pulled their socks and they have been playing since.”
“(I feel good,” said Fairhead. “The crowd will be incredible again. I can’t wait again to be deaf by (cheers), … lose my voice again.
“This is something that you cannot reproduce. It’s incredible.”
The Oilers won a Stanley Cup in 1990 for the last time. No Canadian team has won the trophy since Montreal Canadians did in 1993.
– Global News’ JACLEN KUCEY files
& Copy 2025 Global News, A Division of Corus Entertainment Inc.